A few years ago I saw some 1/2a sized glow planes flying ribbon cutting combat at my local field and realized that these planes were small and light enough to fly with inexpensive 450 class brushless motors and common 2200 sized cells.
We bought three 1/2a planes from hattrickrc.com, one for me and a buddy and a third for my Dad. The build was easy with pink foam and colored tape construction, mine is yellow with blue stripes and combat was very fun, (seriously, try it if you haven't yet). What I was suprised most by, however, was how much fun the combat plane was to fly for general sport flying.
General flight performance was very good with strong vertical, decent speed, fast rolls ect, and of course is VERY durable. I have found that I bring this plane with me to the field just for fun flying, even when I know there will be no combat that day. My combat plane actually sees much more flight hours just sport flying than combat hours. Its sort of a go-to plane that always fun, and encourages my to take risks in part because I know it won't get seriously damaged if I biff it into the ground.
There are lots of types of combat planes out there, but the common element of good handling and durability makes all of them fun planes to own.
Dean in Milwaukee

Last year I built a S.P.A.D. "Hell on Rails" combat plane. I am amazed how precise that it flies. The first one I built is glow powered but I plan on building a sport version with electric power and landing gear. I tried to post photos of the combat HOR but the upload kept failing.

Last year I built a S.P.A.D. "Hell on Rails" combat plane. I am amazed how precise that it flies. The first one I built is glow powered but I plan on building a sport version with electric power and landing gear. I tried to post photos of the combat HOR but the upload kept failing.

I think combat plane in general are underrated in their handling. If you think about it though, it makes sense. To have any chance of staying on someones tail, you have to have a stable and very responsive plane.

As for doing landing gear, sounds like a great idea, but don't forget to add a rudder and a tailskid to hold the rear of the plane higher. Getting airborne reliably will be challenging without both.

The Hell on Rails is a V-tailed plane so it doesn't need a rudder. I will probably either install a tail skid or small un-steerable tail wheel. I wish I could post photos, but I can't. I think the photos I have may be too high of resolution to post.

The popular Battle Axe SSC planes are made in my home town, so I got to see alot of them being flown. They make great, tough, sport planes. A couple of local members even went to modifying them in regards to wing sweep and general design.

I was hoping the 1/2A combat would be a popular class for electrics since 1/2A power is easy to replicate with a simple 400/480 powerplant and common 3s 2200 batteries....

The Hell on Rails is a V-tailed plane so it doesn't need a rudder. I will probably either install a tail skid or small un-steerable tail wheel. I wish I could post photos, but I can't. I think the photos I have may be too high of resolution to post.

To take off from ground, rudder function is needed, or the plane will just turn turn left when you power up. This can be done with a v-tail design by using a seperate servo for each v tail half and using the v-tail mixing on your radio.

It might be possible to do a sloppy takeoff without rudder function if the tailskid holds the tail high enough, minimizing the props torque effect untill you actually pull up on takeoff.

The popular Battle Axe SSC planes are made in my home town, so I got to see alot of them being flown. They make great, tough, sport planes. A couple of local members even went to modifying them in regards to wing sweep and general design.

I was hoping the 1/2A combat would be a popular class for electrics since 1/2A power is easy to replicate with a simple 400/480 powerplant and common 3s 2200 batteries....

My plane flying on a justgofly.com xt450 on 3s with a gws 10x6hds prop. More than enough power and will fly on 3s2200's around 12 minutes wide open. Its a good setup IMHO.

Dean, I'm pretty sure the V-tail will not be too much of a problem with the landing gear. I have a video file somewhere of another guys Hell on Rails taking off on landing gear. I was going to re-post the video but I can't find it. It must be on one of my flash drives. I will post the video later if I find it.

I cranked out this 18 in sq. PBF for combat. A few are flying in our club now. Paint on you favorite warbird and give'er Made of $ foam with the 16 gram Blue wonder and HXT 500 servos. The Zero is a yr old and a little worse for wear but still flying. Couldn't count the midairs it's been through. Two more last night flying indoors. All the attributes for combat. Very agile and easy to fix. Hot glue is its best friendI just took an "after pic" of the zero. A little the worse for wear but flies just the same as it did when new.

Somewhere around 35 years ago I first started flying Deltas and Flying Wings. I have always found them to be excellent sports flyers and great go to planes. Back 20 years plus ago I built and flew a Combat Grimlin with a hot glow setup on it. Designed for a 0.25 and mine had a HP .40 and tuned pipe on it. A few weeks ago I found out about the Mini Gremlim which is a 400 size electric.

I have built 3 in the past three weeks, two for myself and one for my son. Today I flew one of mine in winds that I do not care to fly any of my other planes in. While waiting for a wind gust to die down a bit before launching my Eagle Tree Air Speed sensor indicated wind at 22 MPH.

My Mini is has a bit warmer than recomended power set up on it. Turning a APC 6X4 E
at just over 16K ,just over 150 watts and working on a 250 watts plus setup at present time.

I am building one of the full size Gremlins just about done with it. I have a motor thats been kicking around for a while turnigy 3542 1000 kv motor 11x5 prop, and a 3c 3300 mah 25c that I am going to try out first.
The owner lives a couple of towns out real nice guy here is his web site if anyone is interested in either the MINI Gremlin or the full size plus he is selling the twin motor gremlin also.http://www.racores.com/
Looking forward to maybe a maiden this coming weekend if the winds ever die down.

I recently electrified a Dogfighter SPAD,
The photo shows the original setup with an 1100KV Motor and a 30A ESC. It flew nicely but no real speed.
I'm now using a BL2815 1400KV with a 60A ESC, 8 x7E prop and a 30C 2200mah Lipo. It's drawing 430W . I get around 4 minutes flying which is long enough because it's ballistic!
Currently building a smaller HOR type plane but using an aluminium "U" section for the fuse, no elevator just elevons!

I recently electrified a Dogfighter SPAD,
The photo shows the original setup with an 1100KV Motor and a 30A ESC. It flew nicely but no real speed.
I'm now using a BL2815 1400KV with a 60A ESC, 8 x7E prop and a 30C 2200mah Lipo. It's drawing 430W . I get around 4 minutes flying which is long enough because it's ballistic!
Currently building a smaller HOR type plane but using an aluminium "U" section for the fuse, no elevator just elevons!

How about posting some photos of the HOR when you get it finished. I want to build a sport version of the HOR. I was going to build it with the aluminun angle left over from my Combat Hor but now you've got me thinking. I also have a length of the aluminum U channel. I would like to see how you did yours before I start mine.

Hi Voltron,
I've christened the plane "E-Razor" I think the name suits the small (30" span) aggressive style of the plane.
I certainly will post pics, I'll try and get some photos of various stages of the build. This is the first plane I've ever "designed" so I'm really making it up as I go along!
I'm leaving the U channel a little overlength so I can play around with main wing position before finalising. Because the U channel I'm using is only 19mm wide I plan to mount the ESC centrally on top of the wing and I'll mount an adjustable platform for the battery that like the wing will be able to slide back and forth within the channel to adjust CG. Once finished and flying well I'll post dimensions/weights etc. so other folks can have a go.
The weekend forecast in the UK is for rain so I hope to make good progress on the build.

Called my local signwriter today and asked how much to screen print a sheet of free issue 2mm in a bright colour (they only have 4mm upwards) they quoted me £45 which is appx 9 times what the sheet itself would cost! I've ordered a tin of patio furniture spray paint in red at £7 instead!

I've got a new 3536-10 outrunner and ESC that I bought for another project that I ended up not using. That should provide enough power for a Hell on Rails. I am also going to a swap meet tomorrow so there's no telling what kind of treasures I may come home with. That could change everything.

Maiden of the Erazor was unsuccesful - way too much weight in the tail so I'm changing a few things and will report back. We've got good weather at the mo so here's a little video I took of the Dogfighter in action yesterday.....